In a move that has been promoted by both Human Events co-publisher Jeff Webb and Senior Content Contributor Charlie Kirk, Waste Management announced it will provide a market-based solution to address the high cost of post secondary education by offering to pay for employees' college or trade school.
The company’s Your Tomorrow program, in collaboration with Guild Education, offers employees and their “eligible dependents” the ability to choose “from a full range of education options, including earning a college degree” at no cost to them.
Nearly 36,000 full-time employees nationwide will now have access to more than 170 fully funded programs, according to Fox News.
This opportunity includes undergraduate and graduate degrees and will also cover the cost of short-form technology and business certificate programs, as well as high school completion.
The programs focus mainly on business, technology, science and mathematics, which directly tie into the needs of the business, according to Waste Management.
Knowledge in these areas will be “critical to the future of WM’s business” where employees are asked to operate “technology-enabled fleet and equipment and enhance the customer experience.”
The program “supports the reskilling and retention of existing talent, while also helping to attract new talent to equip the business with a skilled workforce for the future,” according to Waste Management Chief People Officer Tamla Oates-Forney.
“[The program] will soon help our team members eliminate the financial burden of providing for their dependent’s education as well,” Oates-Forney added.
Guild Education CEO Rachel Carlson said Waste Management is “setting the standard for how organizations can creatively invest not only in their employees, but also those employees’ children and families, in a way that ties to their company strategy.”
As part of a hiring push, the company will be holding “career day” events on May 21-22. To persuade potential employees, the company said the positions will come with a range of additional new employee benefits, including flexible work schedules and signing bonuses.
“Through our Career Day events, we hope to attract new team members that want to evolve their career and will take advantage of this new benefit program,” Oates-Forney said.
